"The growth and development of people is the highest calling of leadership."
-Harvey S. Firestone
Outstanding sales managers create a learning environment. Their workplaces become laboratories of sales education, or experiential learning, of human development, of human nature and psychology.
Great sales managers are always looking for potential in their people. When they find it, they develop it - not just during initial training upon hire, but always. They look for learning opportunities for their employees at every juncture. They are perpetual sales trainers and role models.
When teaming up with another salesperson during a customer sales interaction, they observe so they can identify points of success and opportunities for improvement, then they coach the salesperson on those points and opportunities. They only take over the selling role for the salesperson when they want the salesperson to observe and learn, but would prefer to let the salesperson sell so they can observe and then coach.
Great sales managers have confidence in their salespeople, even to the point of allowing them to experience instances of failure so they can learn valuable lessons in that failure and themanager's coaching that goes along with it.
They are not merely paper-pushers, administrators, or yes-men (or women). They don't spend all day in their offices with the doors shut, noses firmly planted in the space between their computer keyboards and monitors. They don't spend their time selling.
They are teachers, doers, cheerleaders, motivators, nurturers, disciplinarians, recognizers of achievement, back-patters, shapers, and social workers. They remove barriers to success, run efficient operations, have fun, foster teamwork, create respectful work environments, and challenge their people. They identify their salespeople's strengths andfind ways to use those strengths. They spend time with their people, walking around, observing, talking, asking, noticing, rolling their sleeves up and getting busy.
They provoke, inspire, help, and develop. They create success in their people, and experience their own personal success as a by-product of their team's success.
Sales managers, how are you going to spend your time today?
When teaming up with another salesperson during a customer sales interaction, they observe so they can identify points of success and opportunities for improvement, then they coach the salesperson on those points and opportunities. They only take over the selling role for the salesperson when they want the salesperson to observe and learn, but would prefer to let the salesperson sell so they can observe and then coach.
Great sales managers have confidence in their salespeople, even to the point of allowing them to experience instances of failure so they can learn valuable lessons in that failure and themanager's coaching that goes along with it.
They are not merely paper-pushers, administrators, or yes-men (or women). They don't spend all day in their offices with the doors shut, noses firmly planted in the space between their computer keyboards and monitors. They don't spend their time selling.
They are teachers, doers, cheerleaders, motivators, nurturers, disciplinarians, recognizers of achievement, back-patters, shapers, and social workers. They remove barriers to success, run efficient operations, have fun, foster teamwork, create respectful work environments, and challenge their people. They identify their salespeople's strengths andfind ways to use those strengths. They spend time with their people, walking around, observing, talking, asking, noticing, rolling their sleeves up and getting busy.
They provoke, inspire, help, and develop. They create success in their people, and experience their own personal success as a by-product of their team's success.
Sales managers, how are you going to spend your time today?
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Skip Anderson is the Founder of Selling to Consumers Sales Training,
a B2C and retail sales training and management consulting company. Skip
is nuts about helping companies and individuals sell more.
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